New York – Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. bought a 15 percent stake in London Stock Exchange Plc for $781.5 million, less than two weeks after withdrawing its takeover offer for Europe’s biggest equity market.
Nasdaq, the largest U.S. electronic equity market, purchased 38.1 million shares, including a stake held by Threadneedle Asset Management Ltd., the LSE’s biggest shareholder, the New York-based company said Tuesday.
The acquisition may force LSE chief executive Clara Furse to negotiate with Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld, who wants to create the first transatlantic stock market. The price Nasdaq paid was 24 percent more than its bid, which LSE rejected.
“The purchase is certainly no bargain,” said Benn Steil, director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and an expert on exchanges. “That would suggest, to the extent they have ambitions for a significant merger, they are concentrating on the London Stock Exchange.”
John Wallace, an LSE spokesman, and Bethany Sherman, a spokeswoman for Nasdaq, declined to comment. Greenhill & Co. was Nasdaq’s financial adviser on the bid.
